A man who was ordered to repay an investment scheme client $5,000 after a magistrate called it ?a disguised pyramid scheme? appealed the order this week.

Orlando Taylor based part of his appeal on the argument that if the ticket he sold to Samuel Brangman for $5,000 to attend a ?Future Global II Seminar? in Mexico was illegal, then Mr. Brangman was not entitled to get his money back.

Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves ruled in October that the ticket to the seminar was ?nothing more than a disguised pyramid which under Bermuda law is illegal?.

He ordered Mr. Taylor to refund the cost of the ticket to Mr. Brangman. Lawyer Megan Colley, representing Mr. Taylor, argued that Mr. Greaves was wrong to rule that the scheme was a pyramid scheme and that it was perfectly legal.

Ms Colley said that Mr. Taylor provided Mr. Brangman with a ticket to attend any one of several seminars within a year of the October,1999 sale and that Mr. Brangman had to exchange his open ticket for one with a specific date. She added that Mr. Greaves gave ?no legal grounds for finding that the agreement was illegal? and that he then contradicted his own finding when he deemed Mr. Brangman entitled to $5,000 from Mr. Taylor.

Legally, a buyer cannot claim any ?remedy whatsoever under an illegal contract?, she said.

But Mr. Brangman, who represented himself in Supreme Court, maintained that the contract was legal and that he was still owed $5,000 from Mr. Taylor.

?The law in this case is common sense,? said Mr. Brangman. ?Mr. Greaves was saying that the contract was disguised as a pyramid scheme (which is illegal in Bermuda) but he was not saying that it was one.?

The court heard that in October, 1999 Mr. Brangman gave Mr. Taylor a $5,000 cheque which ultimately was cashed by Mr. Taylor?s associate.

However, Mr. Brangman never received the ticket he expected to attend the investment seminar as a result of this transaction.

But Ms Colley told the court that Mr. Brangman had in fact received ?a future ticket? from Mr. Taylor.

Mr. Brangman was expected to trade in this non-refundable ticket for a seminar ticket for a specified date at any time over the one year period between October, 1999 and October, 2000.

Ms Colley said Mr. Brangman failed to do this and thus there were no grounds for Mr. Greaves finding ?that Brangman received no ticket ... for the money which Taylor received from him?.

But Mr. Brangman said that during last year?s proceedings in Magistrates? Court Mr. Taylor testified that he did not provide Mr. Brangman with a ticket to the week-long seminar.

?This must have been a very special seminar you were attending to spend $5,000,? said Mr. Justice Ward.

Mr. Brangman responded: ?Investment seminars are quite pricey due to their potential rewards and the people in your field you can meet. I felt it was worth the risk of me paying $5,000.?

?I?ve been in the banking business for 20 years and I?m not one to throw money away,? he added.

Mr. Justice Ward reserved judgment.